Using Existing Crystal Reports as Templates

Now that you've learned the major benefits of Report Templates, apply a template to one of the reports created in Chapter 1, "Creating and Designing Basic Reports." The report (shown in Figure 14.1) as it looked was pretty plain because the focus was on making sure that the data requirements were satisfied. There wasn't a lot of time to play with formatting, so now you are going to apply a template that has some nice grayscale formatting and an underlay applied. These steps walk you through that process:

  1. Open the report. Choose File, Open to get the Open dialog box, and browse until the report is found. Choose it and click Open to continue.
     
  2. Look at the report prior to applying the template as shown in Figure 14.1. To get a good view of the application of the template, make sure that the Preview tab is selected. If the Preview tab is not selected or available, choose View, Preview.
     
  3. Apply the template. To apply some formatting quickly, choose Report, Template Expert. In the Template Expert dialog, feel free to choose each file so that you can see the associated thumbnail. For this case, choose Confidential Underlay, as shown in Figure 14.2, and then click OK.
     

    Figure 14.2. The Template Expert with the Confidential Underlay template chosen.

    graphics/14fig02.gif  

    TIP

    For more information on thumbnails, review the Preview Pictures sidebar at end of this chapter.

  4. Save the report. The report will then open with the formatting from the applied template as shown in Figure 14.3. You can now save the report as CHAP14.rpt.
     

    Figure 14.3. The target report with the Confidential Underlay template applied.

    graphics/14fig03.jpg  

Figure 14.1. The original report before applying a template

graphics/14fig01.jpg

NOTE

You might have noticed that just about anything you do when designing a report can be undone if you don't like it. This is also true when applying templates. However, the mechanism of accomplishing this is slightly different from all other undo operations. It does not appear in the regular undo list on the Standard toolbar.

If you don't like a template that you've just applied or it doesn't accomplish what you had hoped for, you can undo this action by going back in to the Template Expert. At the bottom of the dialog box, you will find a button that says Undo the Current Template. After selecting it and clicking OK, the template is removed.


Part I. Crystal Reports Design

Creating and Designing Basic Reports

Selecting and Grouping Data

Filtering, Sorting, and Summarizing Data

Understanding and Implementing Formulas

Implementing Parameters for Dynamic Reporting

Part II. Formatting Crystal Reports

Fundamentals of Report Formatting

Working with Report Sections

Visualizing Your Data with Charts and Maps

Custom Formatting Techniques

Part III. Advanced Crystal Reports Design

Using Cross-Tabs for Summarized Reporting

Using Record Selections and Alerts for Interactive Reporting

Using Subreports and Multi-Pass Reporting

Using Formulas and Custom Functions

Designing Effective Report Templates

Additional Data Sources for Crystal Reports

Multidimensional Reporting Against OLAP Data with Crystal Reports

Part IV. Enterprise Report Design Analytic, Web-based, and Excel Report Design

Introduction to Crystal Repository

Crystal Reports Semantic Layer Business Views

Creating Crystal Analysis Reports

Advanced Crystal Analysis Report Design

Ad-Hoc Application and Excel Plug-in for Ad-Hoc and Analytic Reporting

Part V. Web Report Distribution Using Crystal Enterprise

Introduction to Crystal Enterprise

Using Crystal Enterprise with Web Desktop

Crystal Enterprise Architecture

Planning Considerations When Deploying Crystal Enterprise

Deploying Crystal Enterprise in a Complex Network Environment

Administering and Configuring Crystal Enterprise

Part VI. Customized Report Distribution Using Crystal Reports Components

Java Reporting Components

Crystal Reports .NET Components

COM Reporting Components

Part VII. Customized Report Distribution Using Crystal Enterprise Embedded Edition

Introduction to Crystal Enterprise Embedded Edition

Crystal Enterprise Viewing Reports

Crystal Enterprise Embedded Report Modification and Creation

Part VIII. Customized Report Distribution Using Crystal Enterprise Professional

Introduction to the Crystal Enterprise Professional Object Model

Creating Enterprise Reports Applications with Crystal Enterprise Part I

Creating Enterprise Reporting Applications with Crystal Enterprise Part II

Appendix A. Using Sql Queries In Crystal Reports

Creating Enterprise Reporting Applications with Crystal Enterprise Part II



Special Edition Using Crystal Reports 10
Special Edition Using Crystal Reports 10
ISBN: 0789731134
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2003
Pages: 341

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